


Let Him Go

by LizzieTsumugi



Series: I love you 3000 (Prideshipping) [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Prideshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25609438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizzieTsumugi/pseuds/LizzieTsumugi
Summary: "Please, place yourself in Yugi’s shoes, what would you have done if you were him?”"I would never have let him go."
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi | Atem
Series: I love you 3000 (Prideshipping) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777066
Comments: 5
Kudos: 42





	Let Him Go

His ears were hurting when the plane took off. Mokuba took in a full breath of air and pinched his nose shut, it didn’t help. He sighed and looked at the pack of gum he had in his hands, they were mint-flavored, his least favorite. 

Normally he would have brought something sweeter to chew on, like strawberry or cherry. Children’s ears are more sensitive to the change in pressure, so he always brings a pack of gum to chew on during a flight. This time it was in such a hurry, he only had time to grab the first gum-looking thing he saw at the duty-free store before he hopped on to the plane with his big brother. 

Mokuba looked at the aforementioned brother. Seto Kaiba’s face remained in a neutral expression, and his hands were placed firmly on the control wheel. Mokuba thought Seto must be experiencing ear pain as well, and yet he hid it so well, as he did with many other things. 

“What’s wrong, Mokuba?” Kaiba did not look over, but he must have felt the stare. Mokuba shook his head as if that would get rid of the pain. It’s probably best not to mention it, he thought as he pressed his cheek against the plane’s window.   
  
“Nii-sama, why are we going to Egypt again?” The window felt colder as the plane ascended, but it was nice. Mokuba could see the JFK airport getting smaller and smaller with each word that came out of his mouth. New York is so crowded, he thought, this is definitely not a good place to build Kaibaland. 

They were in NYC for a budget meeting. The Americans were extremely excited to hear that Kaiba Corp wanted to build an amusement park in their country. News travels fast, and soon there were coverages all over social media. It took them over 10 hours to fly from Alcatraz to L.A. The Kaiba brothers hopped out of their blue-eyes jet and were swarmed by reporters along with emails from different investors. 

It took them a few months, but Kaiba had finally decided to collaborate with a company based in New York. It’s a creditable company with good reputations and connections, the CEO’s daughter loved Duel Monsters and had admired Kaiba, so her father arranged for a meeting to talk about numbers, and let his daughter meet the idol of her dreams. 

The young girl was around Mokuba’s age, and he thought she was pretty cute. It was obvious that she was looking forward to this meeting, with her hairs done and way too much make-up for a child. She had flowers and a card too, but seeing Kaiba less than 6 feet away from her was definitely too much, so she ended up hiding behind a vase, the flowers were still in her hands as she watched Kaiba standing amongst the crowd. 

Mokuba felt sorry for her and wanted to go make friends, but then he heard a familiar ringtone. It was his brother’s. 

Kaiba was still negotiating with those businessmen, so he hung up before even looking at his phone. However, the caller was persistent, so it rang again. This time Kaiba took his phone out, looked at the number. His face clenched for a quick second, and all those people around him had stopped talking. Mokuba knew that expression, it was the face Kaiba always made when he’s making a decision. 

And he had decided to hang up. 

They went back to talking, but their conversation did not continue for long. Five minutes later, Kaiba’s phone rang again. The young CEO’s ringtone was the default one, it’s ringing sharp and strong, piercing through his eardrums. 

“Mr. Kaiba, I think it’s best if you answer that.” A younger-looking businessman smiled and gave his brother an excuse. His smile was pleasant, obviously familiar with these kinds of situations. 

Mokuba looked at his brother, the ringing was still going on. He always had a good intuition, like when he felt that Yugi and his friends were good people, and this time, he felt uneasy, like something bad was going to happen. 

His brother answered the call. 

It only took a few seconds for Seto Kaiba to change his facial expressions. Mokuba was not the only one to realize that something was wrong, the businessmen around Kaiba quickly spread out, and all could see, with every word the caller was speaking, Kaiba’s eyes became wider like he was about to lose something. 

The caller kept talking, but Kaiba never spoke a word. 

Mokuba walked towards his brother, he couldn’t hear what the caller was saying, but he could feel the air around his brother grew thinner. Kaiba was containing his emotions by grabbing tightly onto his cell, his fingers curled tightly around and Mokuba could see them turning pale. 

“Let’s go, Mokuba.” His brother grabbed his arms before he could say a word. Kaiba hung up abruptly, his fingers clenched around Mokuba’s wrists as he pulled his younger brother out of the door. Mokuba was unaware of what was happening, but he followed nonetheless. Kaiba was holding onto him, pulling him closer as they ran down the halls. He felt a sense of desperation within Seto, the same kind of desperation as he fought for their future back when they were young. The kind that put him in front of Gozaburo, like he had no other choice. 

It was now or never. 

“Is it…because of Yugi?” Mokuba lifted his face away from the window. He doesn’t know much about Egypt except for pyramids and the sphinx, but he did remember back in battlecity, back when Yugi told them something about how he’s a spirit residing in the millennium puzzle. 

His brother nodded, and Mokuba felt like he could breathe again. Sometimes it’s hard to follow Seto Kaiba’s thoughts, and this was one of those times. The pain in his ears lessened as the plane reached a safe altitude, Mokuba took his seatbelts off and leaned towards his brother, carefully studied his expressions: “So what did Yugi say?” 

“Yugi said nothing,” Kaiba closed his eyes for a moment, “that was Ishizu on the phone.” 

Mokuba paused to think for a second, then looked up with concern: “So Ms. Ishizu called to inform you about Yugi…but why didn’t Yugi call you himself? Did…did something happen to Yugi?” 

“Yugi is leaving.” The next sentence out of Kaiba’s mouth came quickly, like he had been repressing those words for a long time and was just waiting to open the gates. Mokuba got even more confused, he scratched his head and tried to comprehend what his brother was saying until he finally gave up and asked for more explanation. 

His brother pressed his lips together into a thin line. Mokuba could tell that he was thinking, or having a battle with his own thoughts. It took him a while, but Kaiba finally opened his mouth again: “I’m not too sure what is going on, it’s probably one of Ishizu’s fairy tale fantasies, it’s probably nothing.”

But it was everything, many days later when Kaiba thought back to that trip, all his memories became a blur, what Ishizu said over the phone were long forgotten, but he could remember holding on to the control wheel, and screaming within himself while maintaining every bit of composure. 

Faster, faster, get there faster. 

He was too late. 

Mokuba could not believe what he was seeing. Yugi, his friends, and the Ishtar family stood near a mountain pile of rubble, all of them panting like they just escaped from the collapsing of a cave. No one seemed to be injured from first glance, but Yugi was crying. Jounouchi had his arm around his pal’s shoulders, and everyone was silent. 

“Seto,” Ishizu was the first to greet them. She looked at both Kaiba brothers, and then looked back at Yugi, “The ceremonial duel was finished, we were able to witness the Pharaoh returning back to the underworld, where his soul shall rest in peace.” 

What? Mokuba blinked again, Ishizu was still talking, but his brother was not listening anymore, his eyes were looking at Yugi. Mokuba followed his brother’s glance, Yugi looked the same as before, only without that puzzle around his neck. He looked back at Kaiba and was stunned by his brother’s expression. 

Kaiba had a look of disbelief on his face like he suddenly realized something. The Yugi in front of him looked so familiar and yet so different. He could picture his rival’s purple eyes and crazy hair, along with that weird fetish for leather and silver in his sleep. He knew him too well. 

He knew him too well, so he immediately realized what was going on. 

Others called his rival “the other Yugi” or “the Pharaoh,” but Kaiba was not used to such name. He kept calling him Yugi, like he’s the only Yugi in the world, his one and only Yugi.   
  
And his Yugi is no longer here. 

Ishizu was still talking and Yugi was still crying. Mokuba looked back and forth at them, Kaiba’s expression returned back to normal, and yet he could feel something was off, like the calm before a storm. 

“When did he leave?” His brother interrupted Ishizu. 

“About 5 minutes ago.” Ishizu spoke slowly and carefully as if threading a needle. 

Mokuba froze, he thought about the three phone calls Kaiba had received during their meeting, about how his brother hung up the first two. Would they have made it if his brother picked up the first call? He could not bring himself to think about what would happen then, but he knew his brother was probably thinking the same thing. 

Kaiba stood still, eyes fixated on the pile of rubble. It was not hard to imagine that there had been a cave standing there. Mokuba was not familiar with Ancient Egypt, but he could feel that there was something beneath those stones, something mysterious and beyond his understanding, something that even his brother cannot reach. 

Something that Seto Kaiba cannot reach. 

Then he saw it, it was really subtle, and you have to know Seto Kaiba very well to notice it. His brother had steady hands, they had held Duel Monster cards, turned control wheels, and pulled his blankets up at late nights. He knew Seto Kaiba’s hands all too well, and he could see them trembling. 

Like something had slipped away from those fingers. 

“Kaiba, what the hell!?” Jounouchi yelled out, but Kaiba was quicker than him. Mokuba took a step back in disbelief. His brother was going in the opposite direction, Kaiba ran forward towards the pile of rubble they had been staring at. He did not hesitate to examine whether it was safe to do so and began to pull bricks off the pile, throwing them behind him. 

“What are you doing!” Jounouchi screamed again as he dodged a brick Kaiba threw in his direction. The other person had no intention of replying but to keep digging. 

Jounouchi was not going to waste his words and ran towards Kaiba. It was then that he remembered that before he became a duelist, he was also a man of fists. It was also then that he remembered Kaiba was a much-skilled fighter than he was. 

“Jounouchi-kun, are you okay?” Yugi and Anzu held Jounouchi’s arms and prevented him from falling to the ground. The young duelist’s nose was bleeding from the punch Kaiba threw at him and was cursing his rich rival with all the street words he could think of. 

Yugi pulled Jounouchi back with all of his strength, but his eyes looked towards Kaiba, who had made no progress in digging an opening for the cave. Sand and rocks kept falling down onto where he was digging, building up an even bigger pile, elongating the distance between Kaiba and the Pharaoh. 

Yet he kept digging, like he was going to move heaven and Earth. 

It was then that Yugi knew what it looked like. He had experienced excruciating pain, physical like when they dueled Yami Malik, and emotional like when he thought Jounouchi was dead. This was the first time he saw what desperation looked like. The Pharaoh’s story was sealed by fate, buried miles beneath the sands, untouchable by light, sound, or hope. The Pharaoh had no future, said the Goddess of Destiny, and that was it. 

Yet Kaiba continued to fight, he was fighting every bit of despair and sentence fate had thrown at him, with his own flesh and blood. Like the last standing soldier on the battlefield, he refused to give up. He continued to fight with the last bit of desperation, and believed that he could bring him back. He’s Seto Kaiba, he could do anything. 

“Stop! Please stop!” His body trembled as he spoke. For a moment there, Yugi did not know whether he was trying to hold Jounouchi back, or using his friend as support so he would not fall to the ground, “Please…Kaiba-kun, don’t give us hope.” 

“That’s right,” Anzu chimed in, her hands gently supported both of her friends, “Yugi is in pain as well, all of us are.” 

“So you sent him back to the underworld?” Kaiba suddenly stopped and stood up straight. Mokuba could see blood coming out of the tip of his brother’s fingers, but Kaiba smiled, like no pain could ever touch him, “I thought friendship mattered to you people, tell me, is sending your friend to his death a part of that friendship?” 

“The Pharaoh had passed away 3000 years ago,” Before anyone else could snap back at Kaiba, Ishizu stood between them, her eyes as gentle as her voice, “he was simply following his fate by going back to the underworld.” 

“I thought I told you what fate means to me when I defeated you with my blue-eyes,” Kaiba took a long pause and ignored Malik’s yelling, “he only has one destined fate waiting for him, and that is to be crushed by me!” 

He stood atop of all the sand, bricks, and rocks and looked down on everyone. Seto Kaiba was always proud, no matter who stood before him. His heart was pounding, pulling on every nerve of his body, like his very existence was aching with every heartbeat, and his mind was racing. 

How did he lose? What strategy did he use? Did he put the God cards in his deck? Did he go easy on his opponent? 

Why didn’t he tell me? 

He clenched his fists tightly, blood and sand fell from his fingers, and at that moment, he felt nothing and everything. 

“Seto,” Ishizu took a step forward, her expression torn between worry and sadness, “I…we all understand that you have some unfinished business with the Pharaoh, but that was the battle between him and Yugi. So please, place yourself in Yugi’s shoes, what would you have done if you were him?”

Kaiba stood tall, for a second there Mokuba thought he was dueling again. His brother had the same look on his face when he was dueling, that proud, undefeated look like there is nothing that he cannot do. 

“I would never have let him go.” 

And like that, Ishizu fell silent. She took a deep breath and shook her head, the sun was setting, and people’s shadows were getting longer as the sun moves west. She looked at Kaiba’s shadow, it was thin and long, curved by the rubbles under his feet like it was diving deep into the ground. 

She wondered whether this was where the souls intersect. 

Mokuba never spoke a word throughout this whole mess. His brother seemed to have lost interest in arguing with these people. Kaiba walked away from everyone else and back towards where they had landed their plane. Mokuba was afraid to speak, and so was everyone else. 

Yet everyone’s eyes followed Kaiba, his back straight and proud, like how he always composed himself. He always walked with a purpose, and everyone knew, beneath that cool and calm look, resided a heart that raged with passion. 

It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but he was determined. 

“What was it?” Kaiba suddenly stopped, Mokuba, who was following close behind, almost bumped into his brother. Kaiba did not turn around, and it was unclear who he was speaking to, but his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. 

“What was his real name?” 

* * *

  
This, just because I don’t want to leave Seto heartbroken. After all, DSOD happened! 

Mokuba looked up at his brother, who walked away the second he heard the Pharaoh's name. The sun in Egypt shone brightly on them, there was a slight breeze that brushed against his brother’s jacket, followed by the dust that flung with every step. This was Mokuba’s first time in Egypt and he was impressed by the scenery, but he couldn’t help but wonder if the underworld looked like this as well. 

He thought back to the Pharaoh. He could imagine him in Ancient Egypt, with Obelisk guarding his temples, Osiris’s roar echoing through the sky, resonating with Ra’s blazing sunshine. The people of Egypt must have loved and admired the Pharaoh like he did his brother. He could imagine the rive of Nile running long, like the people’s wish for the Pharaoh’s reign. He could imagine little children running in the streets, with the Pharaoh they must have lived a happy life. He could imagine the Pharaoh sitting on his throne, with his priests standing close by, a sacred and forbidden place. 

And then he could imagine his brother, wearing the same white jacket, walking through the desert, the villages, the temples, and the ruins, into the Pharaoh’s palace. He could see it, Seto Kaiba standing proudly in front of the Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh, greeting him by drawing the first card from his deck. 

Like how it’s meant to be. 

The wind got a bit stronger, so Mokuba had to pick up the pace to keep up with his brother. Seto Kaiba did not look back at Yugi and the others, his eyes fixated at the front like he’s always been. 

“Wait for me.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve always felt that Seto carried certain negative feelings towards Yugi in DSOD. I mean he’s aware that Yugi defeated Atem, so by default he should definitely know that Yugi is a very strong duelist and worthy of his respect. He was willing to sacrifice himself to give Yugi a chance of winning, so it’s obvious that he trusts Yugi’s skills and respects him as a duelist. Yet before Aigami went crazy, Seto was ignoring everything Yugi was saying and undermining him with every chance he’s got. 
> 
> It is hard to say what Seto was feeling towards Yugi, but I can’t help but wonder if he blames Yugi for Atem’s departure. In the anime, Seto wanted to be Atem’s rival for the ceremonial duel but gave in because Yugi insisted. In the manga, Seto was last seen walking in the desert with Mokuba, and the lines read “Everyone has a story of their own…and that story ends in light.” Back when I was younger and not a prideshipper, I thought it was odd for Takahashi to place Kaiba in Egypt, when his arc was technically closed after he left to build Kaibaland. The darkness and hatred that resided in Seto’s heart were gone after battlecity, and he was able to move on to doing what he originally wanted to do. So if we are talking about “light” and “stories” for Seto, shouldn’t we see a frame of him sitting in his office talking about the construction of Kaibaland with Mokuba or something? And if Takahashi had intended on having Kaiba in Egypt for the last chapter, why not let him witness the ceremonial duel? What is the point of drawing Kaiba coming to Egypt, but have him miss the ceremonial duel? 
> 
> I think it’s because Takahashi, the creator of these characters, thought that if Kaiba was present for the ceremonial duel, he would never have let Atem leave. Whether it be shoving Yugi’s body to the ground and take his place in the duel, or drive a bulldozer to the gate of the underworld, thus preventing Atem from going through that fucking door, he would never have let him go without a fight. 
> 
> Before DSOD happened, it broke my heart thinking about Kaiba's last appearance in the manga, seeing him walking in the desert with Mokuba, and knowing that he missed Atem. But then DSOD came and he made it happen!
> 
> PRIDESHIPPING IS CANON!  
> Thank you for coming to my Tedtalk everyone.


End file.
